LAUSD, Compton Unified show testing gains as pandemic setbacks persist in California

Test scores for California students remain lower than pre-pandemic levels but are trending upward, with Compton and Los Angeles school districts among those with particularly strong growth and scores that have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

Against this backdrop of progress, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Thursday requiring phonics to be emphasized when teaching reading to the state’s youngest students, a sweeping effort to raise lagging skills and improve student achievement.

On the statewide tests, which were taken in the spring, 48.8% of students scored “proficient” or “advanced” in English, a gain of 1.8 percentage points from spring 2024, which builds on smaller gains from the previous year. Still, the percentage of people rated advanced or proficient was 2.1 percentage points lower than in 2018-19, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trend was similar for mathematics, with fewer advanced or proficient students overall.

In math, 37.3% of students tested scored proficient or advanced, again an increase of 1.8 percentage points from 2024. And 2024 was 0.9% better than 2023. However, the percentage of proficient students was lower than before the pandemic, by 2.4 percentage points.

A statement from the California Department of Education called the results “modest increases, at a higher rate than the previous year, suggesting growing momentum.”

State officials pointed to school systems where results were more impressive, including Los Angeles and Compton, the Roseville Common School District near Sacramento, the Pittsburg Unified School District inland from Oakland, and Sanger Unified, east of Fresno.

“Some growth is modest, some is profound,” the state superintendent said. of Public Education, Tony Thurmond, “but in all cases, the data reflects the impact of (the state’s) investments and the hard work of educators to help students succeed. We aspire to achieve even better results for students.”

Pandemic setbacks

For six years, educators in California and across the country have looked to the 2018-19 results — the last tests before the COVID-19 pandemic — as a benchmark. Closed campuses, economic hardship and illness dampened student success starting in March 2020. And academic recovery — as measured by test scores — proved a stubbornly difficult obstacle across the country, long after students abandoned online learning and returned to in-person classes. Even record state and federal funding failed to fuel a rapid recovery.

California showed strong incremental gains over last year — and that’s what Newsom focused on, while also criticizing President Trump’s efforts to penalize California schools for not following his policy directives.

“As the federal government works to cut education funding in California, we are doubling down on our efforts to support our schools, students and teachers,” Newsom said. “We strive to provide students with the resources they need to succeed, and California’s rising test scores show our efforts are paying off.”

Strong progress for Compton and LA Unified

Students are tested in English and math in grades 3-8 and in 11th grade. In science, students are tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in secondary school. Four levels are used to categorize scores: advanced, proficient, near standard, and not met standard.

Results varied widely across school districts. Compton Unified and Los Angeles Unified stood out by surpassing pre-pandemic scores while making strong annual gains. Both districts have a large majority of low-income families, a factor that historically has made it more difficult for students to achieve high scores.

Compton has now exceeded state averages, with 51% of students proficient or better in English; 41.1% in mathematics.

In a late July statement — when school districts only had access to their own results — Compton Unified celebrated its progress.

“We have invested in what matters most: high-quality teaching, the use of real-time data, targeted support for students and deep professional learning for teachers,” said Supt. Darin Brawley. “The results demonstrate the shared vision and mission of our governing board, as well as the hard work of our students, educators and families. »

“Our mission has always been to ensure that every Compton student receives an education that prepares them for college, a career and their future plans,” Brawley added. “These results demonstrate that we are not only on track to become the nation’s leading urban school district, but we are also setting a benchmark for what is possible for all students.” »

At LA Unified, the combined progress or proficiency rate increased to 46.5% in English and 36.8% in math. Both numbers are slightly below the state average, but with a much higher rate of improvement and the best ever in the district under the current testing system.

In the latest results, LA Unified had higher scores than the state for each of these groups: white, Latino, black and Asian students.

“For the first time, many of our student groups are actually outperforming those across the state,” Los Angeles Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho during a briefing on Wednesday. “There is no precedent for what I just said.”

All grades and student subgroups improved at LA Unified. All grades also improved statewide, but not as much as in Los Angeles Unified.

Despite the relatively rapid increase in test scores in Los Angeles and Compton, there is room for improvement. About half to two-thirds of students continue to lack full proficiency in English or mathematics.

For example, at LA Unified, the percentage of black students rated proficient or better improved by at least four percentage points in English and math. However, three out of four black students still do not reach the required standards in mathematics. The numbers are better but still low in reading, with 36 percent of black students meeting or exceeding state standards for their grade.

In relatively new science tests, Compton and Los Angeles were both below state averages.

Another positive development for Los Angeles: the achievement gap narrowed slightly between Asian and white students compared to black and Latino students. Researchers noted that these gaps have widened across the country during the pandemic.

However, a significant gap remains. For example, in math, nearly 80 percent of Asian students and nearly 70 percent of white students were rated proficient, compared to 31 percent of Latino students and 25 percent of black students.

What has LAUSD done?

The rebound in testing has been helped by record levels of state and federal funding to address the harms of the pandemic.

Carvalho, who became superintendent in February 2022, said the district used the one-time money effectively and that even though it is gone, the system in place should continue to rely on academic achievement.

Key initiatives included providing more resources and applying greater oversight to schools and student groups that needed more help. Carvalho also cited better data and the ability to use it more quickly to adapt teaching.

Tutoring – before, during and after school, in person and online – was a central strategy. The same goes for increasing classroom instructional time by promoting summer classes and offering mini-academies during winter and spring breaks, he said. Intervention teachers were deployed to work with small groups of students, and coaches helped refine instruction.

State initiatives

Newsom focused on the benefits of state initiatives including transitional kindergarten, free school meals for all and increased funding for before and after school programs and literacy coaches. He also highlighted the new reading bill, which he officially signed Thursday at a Los Angeles elementary school.

The new law, passed as Assembly Bill 1454, requires all school districts to adopt programs aligned with what its supporters call the “science of reading.”

The science of reading is made up of five pillars: phonemic awareness (the sounds made by letters), phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

A 2022 study of 300 California school districts found that fewer than 2% of districts used programs that their supporters considered sufficiently strong in these practices.

The governor set aside $200 million in the 2025-2026 budget to fund evidence-based literacy professional development for educators.

“This is a historic day for California’s students, educators and families,” Marshall Tuck, chief executive of the advocacy group EdVoice, said in a statement. “The unanimous votes from across the aisle in both chambers tell us that major policy change is possible when we choose evidence over ideology and children over politics. »